October 14, 2003 - Trivium and Ember To Inferno

Two weeks after my last release a new band joins my library when Trivium released their debut album "Ember To Inferno" on October 14, 2003. But who is Trivium? They are a 3-piece thrash metal band from Orlando, Florida consisting of Travis Smith (drums, percussion), Brent Young (bass) and frontman Matt Heafy (lead vocals, guitars). Trivium draw inspiration from Metallica and other 80s thrash metal bands, but Heafy does a fairly even split of singing and screaming so it's a heavier style of thrash. Let's see what Trivium is all about!

The album opens with a short intro called "Inception: The Bleeding Skies" and it's actually a 35 second snippet of the album's final track, but played in reverse! The cymbals and slow, epic guitar sound interesting in reverse for sure and this sets the stage for "Pillars Of Serpents" where Heafy comes out firing with some fast, thrash-y guitar that sounds loud and heavy. Smith's drums are fast and solid as well and Heafy leads the way on guitar and vocals as we hear him for the first time and he's screaming the verse with all his might! He screams high for the most part, sounding pretty solid as he belts out the verse overtop the speedy and heavy riff. After a couple solid rounds Young segues nicely with a cool new bass riff and this leads to a pretty sweet new riff that is chugging and heavy with Heafy belting our a new heavy verse overtop. This part sounds pretty cool and we hear Heafy sing briefly for the first time and his singing voice is okay, but certainly nothing too amazing. He hits a couple low growls which I like, and eventually things shift into a fast new riff where Heafy sings his first full verse and once again he sound alright, but like he's trying to be epic and his singing voice just isn't quite up to par. His guitar playing is more than up to par as he follows with a pretty wicked guitar solo before they return to the heavy original riff to close things out. A pretty cool first real tune! Track 3 is "If I Could Collapse The Masses" and Heafy lays down a speedy and pretty solid rhythm guitar riff before overlaying with an even better lead guitar riff overtop! Heafy is the architect of all the awesomeness and he belts out another solid screaming verse overtop this great mix of super fast guitar riffs. Heafy mixes in some lackluster singing in the verse and he sings the whole chorus, which I find takes the air out of things a bit, his singing is just not heavy enough for the music. After a couple rounds they move into a cool stop-and-start riff that is plenty heavy with some great screaming by Heafy and this part sounds pretty sweet! It culminates with another pretty sweet guitar solo then they nicely bring things back for a final verse and chorus. The singing was meh, but the rest was pretty damn good. The next track is "Fugue (A Revelation)" and it's got what you might call a "typical" Trivium riff already, but when typical means some super fast and cool guitars and a fittingly fast rhythm section, I don't mind one bit! It's another fast, unique, and pretty cool main riff and Heafy sounds great screaming with all his might, but once again he mixes in some singing and it's just so average compared to everything else, which is well-above average! The chorus is again fully sung by Heafy and just like the last song it just doesn't seem heavy enough for the music, it's an okay chorus but it could be so much better if he just screamed this too! The solo on this song isn't as flashy but it's still good but overall I think this is the weakest song yet. Still a decent bar though, lots of great guitar! Track 5 is "Requiem" and they jump right into another typical Trivium main riff, meaning Heafy is all over the place with some fast and pretty cool guitar. Heafy screams for the most part, and this is the first time where I actually liked his singing break, I thought it was a nice change-up in the otherwise blindingly fast verse. The whole chorus is sung once again though and I have the same feelings as before: it's decent but it falls flat overtop such heavy and cool music. After another round Heafy delivers another pretty epic and awesome solo and at the end it devolves nicely into a an even more epic version of the main riff! Then they return for a typical verse and chorus finish. This song was largely pretty awesome, just that flat singing chorus! Up next is the title track "Ember To Inferno" and even by their standards this main riff is pretty damn fast with Heafy playing all Linds of great melodic guitar in-between the super speedy, thrash-y other parts. He really is a great guitarist but right now he's the lead and rhythm guitar so everything sounds pretty sweet! Heafy screams the whole verse so it's pretty great, but this has to be the simplest and most made-for-radio chorus with Heafy singing in his lackluster voice. It's such a contrast; possibly their best verse so far along with the worst chorus so far! The guitar solo is pretty freaking awesome with some great shredding so I'm inclined to lean that this was a good song, but damn he needs some work on that singing voice. Track 7 is a short interlude called "Ashes" and it's just Heafy playing a light, almost music box-like guitar riff that sounds pretty creepy and cool. For a 53 second song, it does it's job. The next track is the seven minute "To Burn The Eye" and Heafy starts us off with a solid stop-and-start riff that is thrash-y before settling into another pretty fast snd pretty cool main guitar riff. He screams nicely overtop in the verse and reverts to his more bland singing in the chorus which is still okay, but just doesn't hit as hard. After another round they segue nicely to a dark sounding new part where Heafy comes in with some heavy and pretty cool guitars. He screams a new verse to nicely match this new mood and this leads nicely into a long guitar solo where Heafy is really shredding it at times! They move smoothly from this great solo back to the main riff and after a final chorus they close out the song with a fading new riff that is cool enough, it just seems a little out of place at the end of this song. Track 9 is "Falling To Grey" and Heafy is soloing right from the get-go as we dive right into some pretty sweet guitar! The verse is a lot simpler, but still solidly heavy and Heafy screams in a nice low voice overtop as things sound headbangingly cool. The chorus riff is pretty similar, but of course Heafy sings the chorus so things fall a little flat. After another round it's solo time again and Heafy delivers another pretty awesome solo with all kinds of great shredding all up and down the guitar. The ending is pretty predictable with a final verse and chorus but it was still largely a pretty good song. Up next is "My Hatred" and they jump right into another pretty cool main riff that alternates slow, loud chugging with bits of super fast guitar and things sound pretty interesting. Heafy is really shreddingnit in the faster parts, but Young's bass is also pretty sweet if you listen for it in the background. Smith's drums are fast and precise and cool as well and along with some solid screaming this makes for a pretty sweet verse. What can we expect in the chorus? Some more cool music, and some lackluster singing by Heafy that is just not heavy enough, why doesn't he screams it!? After another great verse and decent chorus Heafy sets himself nicely for the solo, then delivers an epic solo that has snippets of shredding but huts all the right notes. They end it as it began and this was another solid tune for sure! Track 11 is "When All Light Dies" and Heafy sets up the main riff nicely for Young joins in to reinforce another fast, cool and unique main riff. It may follow the typical Trivium formula, but it's a largely good formula, aside from another air-releasing singing chorus. After the second round Heafy takes us in a new direction with a new screaming verse and a new chugging riff that is super heavy and things sound pretty fucking good! This leads right into solo time and Heafy very nicely and epicly delivers several solos, each of them sounding shreddingly awesome! The final minute-plus of the song is them jamming out an epic bit pretty repetitive new riff and it leads perfectly into the last song on the album, "A View Of Burning Empires". The same riff continues, but on epic Strings as Heafy plays acoustic guitar and it's a pretty epic way to wrap things up, a nice little instrumental outro!

That is the end of "Ember To Inferno" and I thought it was a solid debut album by Trivium. Matt Heafy is exploding with all kinds of great guitars, tons of good metal songwriting, and a solid scream, but his singing could definitely use some improvement. Still, for a debut, it's a largely pretty solid album and I look forward to hearing where Trivium go from here!